Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh, 2nd Test, Day 3: 5 Talking Points

Bangladesh batted brilliantly on the 3rd day of the 2nd Test against Sri Lanka at the P Sara Oval in Colombo and ended the day’s play in a dominating position. Riding on a brilliant century by Shakib Al Hasan and half-centuries by Mushfiqur Rahim and Mosaddek Hossain, the hosts posted a mammoth 467 on the board in 134 overs.

The 129 runs lead seemed to a huge one for the visitors but the openers Dimuth Karunaratne and Upul Tharanga played some delightful shots to take Sri Lanka to 50/0 at the end of the day’s play. They are still trailing Bangladesh by 80 runs and will be looking to wipe out the lead in the morning session to set the hosts a competitive 2nd innings target.

That said here we have a look at 5 Talking Points from the 3rd day’s play

1. Shakib Al Hasan smashes 5th Test century

Arguably the greatest player the nation has seen, Shakib Al Hasan yet again proved why he is often regarded as the greatest all-rounder in the game. The southpaw looked in superb touch and despite playing some extravagant shots, he played well within his limits. He went after the bowlers if anything loose was on the offer and completed his 5th Test century.

The left-hander began with a fierce square cut of Lakshan Sandakan in the opening over and there was no looking back. He manoeuvred the ball around the ground to keep the scoreboard ticking and struck the occasional boundaries. He eventually reached the elusive three-figure mark in the 111th over. He was dismissed on 116, an innings which was constructed with 10 hits to the fence.

2. Mosaddek Hossain scores a gutsy 75

Hossain walked out in the middle at the fall of Mushfiqur Rahim’s wicket and played an exceptional innings which propelled the visitors to a big 1st innings total. He also shared a crucial 131 runs stand with Shakib for the 7th wicket which gave Bangladesh a massive lead of 129 runs. Hossain played some excellent shots up front and made his intentions pretty clear from the word go.

He began with a couple of boundaries of Rangana Herath and looked in control of proceedings. Hossain executed a brilliant six of the same bowler in the 87th over which went sailing over the long off boundary for a huge six. It was a gorgeous inside out shot from the youngster. He reached his half-century in the 108th over.

The right-hander was eventually dismissed by Herath in an attempt to play the big shot. He went for a big heave but missed it altogether. Niroshan Dickwella completed an easy stumping behind the stumps. His innings of 75 were studded with 7 fours and 2 sixes.

3. Rangana Herath runs through the Bangla tail

In what turned out to be a disappointing day for the hosts, Bangladesh played superbly on the 3rd day of the 2nd Test but Sri Lanka captain Rangana Herath toiled hard and finished with impressive figures of 4/82 in 34.1 overs. The veteran left-arm spinner already dismissed Tamim Iqbal yesterday and added 3 more to his kitty today.

He wiped out the Bangladesh tail with his triple strike during the dying stages of the innings. He deceived Mosaddek Hossain with a flighted delivery and was stumped by Dickwella. Both Mehedi Hasan and Mustafizur Rahman were trapped right in front by the captain and the umpire had no hesitation in ruling the decision in favour of the bowling team.

4. Big lead by Bangladesh

Who would have though at the start of the day that Bangladesh would go on to take a massive lead of 129 runs? But as they say, cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties and it was exactly what transpired on Day 3 of the 2nd Test in Colombo. The visitors lost 3 quick wickets in the twilight of the 2nd day and a big partnership was the order of the day fro Bangladesh.

Shakib Al Hasan and Mosaddek Hossain played some delightful shots and stitched together a crucial partnership for the 7th wicket which propelled the visitors to a score of 467. Shakib smashed 116, while Hossain was dismissed after making 75.

5. Gusty partnership by Lankan openers

After a lacklustre day in the office with the ball in hand, Sri Lanka clawed their way back into the Test after the opening duo of Upul Tharanga and Dimuth Karunaratne shared an unbroken 50 runs stand which helped the visitors to bring down the deficit margin to 75 runs. Both looked pretty organised in the middle and played some fluent shots.

The southpaws struck 3 boundaries each as both remained unbeaten on 25. They will definitely look to build on the partnership and take Sri Lanka to a position of safety on the 4th day.